


Walking in the Darkness

by Tinytokki



Series: Treasure (The Pirate Chronicles of ATEEZ) [10]
Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: ATEEZ (Band) Are Pirates, Action/Adventure, Age of Sail, Alternate Universe - Age of Sail, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Astronomy, Backstory, Birthmarks, Bullying, Childhood Trauma, Coming of Age, Complicated Relationships, Drama, Execution, Explosions, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Guns, Gunshot Wounds, Historical, Historical Inaccuracy, Horseback Riding, Kidnapping, Military, Origin Story, Parent-Child Relationship, Personal Growth, Pirates, Privilege, Single Parents, Survivor Guilt, The Royal Navy, Violence, Wealth, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:02:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22186780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tinytokki/pseuds/Tinytokki
Summary: Twelve-year-old Yeosang knows how to roll with the punches and keep from ruffling too many feathers.  However, a moment of truth to determine his future hangs on his ability to stand against a seemingly unstoppable force.
Series: Treasure (The Pirate Chronicles of ATEEZ) [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1341256
Comments: 8
Kudos: 44





	1. Kang Estate

“No, Mr. Yuma, my good sir. I’m afraid you are incorrect. While the latitude hook is the basic principle for most navigational tools, the astrolabe additionally relies on gravity so that you can calculate your position without seeing the horizon.”

Yeosang clucked his tongue gently at Mr. Yuma and promptly returned his nose to his book. The horse let out a content whinny from where he rested across from his human. “I’m glad you seem to remember now, Mr. Yuma,” Yeosang smiled at his companion, the horse staring back eagerly. “Now I have to catch up on calculating relative longitude. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that would you?”

Yeosang sighed and regarded his horse, who had begun chewing on the post of his stall. Yeosang’s eyes went wide and he rushed to grab Mr. Yuma’s harness and pull him back, pages of schoolwork flying. “Yuma!” He scolded, grasping the horse’s face and shaking it from side to side. “You’ll damage the wood and get it stuck in your teeth and I’ll get in trouble for it.”

Yuma let out a frustrated whinny and nosed Yeosang in the chest. Yeosang frowned. “You want to go out?” He didn’t expect a real answer, but it got him thinking once the question was out in the air. “If I don’t finish my assignment, you know I’ll get in trouble with Father.”

Yuma made a huffing sound and nuzzled Yeosang’s face. Yeosang giggled at the sensation and pushed the long snout away. That was all it took to convince him. “Alright, alright. A quick jaunt and we come back so I can finish.”

Without even saddling his steed up, Yeosang opened the stall gate and swung himself onto Yuma’s back, urging him on out of the stables and towards the forest.

It took only a gentle squeeze with his thighs into the horse’s side and Yuma knew which way to go. 

The grove wasn’t far from the Kang Family Estate, and Yeosang took to the wooded hills frequently for his stolen moments of tranquility and relative solitude. Relative because he had somehow acquired a number of animal friends.

Yeosang wasn’t sure what it was that attracted them, surely the host of creatures living in a wild area would flee from hoofbeats and humans, but at some point in time they had begun to emerge. 

They had no quarrel with Yeosang and Yuma once it was clear that they meant no harm, and day by day the two became engrained in the landscape, just two more creatures playing their parts in the symbiotic chain of forest life. 

Yeosang found solace in the birds, the butterflies, the deer, and even the occasional fox. He had never fit in at the schoolhouse, and sometimes the other boys said things to him that made him consider running away to this wooded paradise forever.

To the other students, Yeosang was an outcast for any number of reasons. They called him privileged pet, or damaged, or weak, or ugly. Yeosang raised an unconscious hand to the birthmark near his left eye. A few weeks ago, one of the bullies had poked at it and asked why he didn’t wash it away like the blemish it was. 

Yeosang sighed and dismounted, leading Yuma the rest of the way to the sunny little clearing where he usually lazed the afternoon away. 

It was hard enough to be poked and prodded and insulted for his looks. But there was one name that no one would dare call him to his face, though he knew it always circulated behind his back. 

Mother-killer.

It choked Yeosang just to think about it. 

No matter the lengths his father went to convince him it wasn’t his fault, the burdensome load of survivor’s guilt followed Yeosang everywhere.

His mother had died giving birth to him, and he had never known her. When his older sister was born, there were no complications. When Yeosang was born, despite the care of some of the best physicians in the country, his mother descended into a fit of convulsions and died a shocking death.

There was no evidence that anything was wrong with Yeosang, or that he had somehow caused his mother’s death. But people will talk.

Before the memory made Yeosang sick, he settled down in the grass and bid Yuma follow. 

A small bird flew across the clearing towards them and settled on a branch near Yeosang’s head.

“Hello, Mr. Bluebird. What shall we play today?”

Eventually, he decided on playing king.

Yeosang had never met the royal family, but his father had. It was one of many special opportunities the Head Navigator of the Royal Navy was afforded, and Yeosang loved to hear about it. 

“I’ll be king of all the forest animals, and the wood spirits and fairies. What should my first command be?” 

A rabbit emerged from his burrow. 

“What do you think, Mr. Rabbit?” Yeosang smiled at the soft creature before gasping in excitement. “Oh, I know! Let’s play war!”

For the next few hours, that is what he did. Swinging his stick around from atop his valiant steed, beheading imaginary enemies left and right until he tired of combat and went to lay by the stream and watch the clouds pass overhead.

The tolling of bells shook him from his daydream. The sun sat on the horizon, only a few minutes away from dipping beneath it, and Yeosang knew he had been gone too long. 

He made his farewells and mounted Yuma, headed towards home and the clanging of the bells. As he neared the town, it became clear why the bells were pealing so vigorously. A regiment of Navy soldiers marched through the square, bringing a prisoner with them. 

Even atop his horse, Yeosang had difficulty seeing through the crowd that had formed. He heard nervous whispers passed from person to person, and strained to hear them.

“It’s just a bandit from the south, what’s all the fuss?”

“Why would a lowly bandit need a Navy escort? Surely this is an infamous pirate.”

“Not just any pirate! That’s the Dread Pirate Eden!”

“Eden this far inland? And travelling north, from the looks of it?”

“I’ve seen the wanted posters. It’s Captain Eden, I’d bet my prize cow.”

“Was he caught here in town? Good heavens! Are our children safe?”

“You there!”

Yeosang startled before identifying the man who was addressing him. It was a commoner in the crowd who had spied the Navigator’s son on his horse.

“Go home. Nothing to see here.”

Yeosang nodded slowly and nudged Yuma to turn around and head for home. He wasn’t sure to what extent he could trust the gossip of the townspeople, but if they were correct...

A shiver went down Yeosang’s spine.

The dread pirate Eden— in _his_ town.

The Kang Family Estate was a short ride from the town centre, and it was a beautiful well-kept mansion with equally well-kept grounds and gardens. 

As Yeosang returned Yuma to his stall and picked up his wrinkled school pages off the ground, he heard a throat being cleared from the doorway.

It was Housekeeper Sohyun.

“Out riding in the woods, are we?”

Yeosang nodded wordlessly. There was no way around the truth. Clearly he had been out riding in the woods. Sohyun had probably seen him returning. 

“Well, come on inside. Your father wants to speak with you.”

Yeosang suppressed a groan and followed her inside, with a glance at the content Yuma, free at least from overbearing parents in his stall. 

Navigator Kang knew Yeosang frequently disappeared for hours on end, but never pushed him to explain why or where he was going. That much Yeosang appreciated. Which made this conversation all the more puzzling.

“Yeosang!” His father looked up from his books as soon as they entered the library. “Have you finished the work I assigned you?”

Straight for the kill. 

“Not quite,” Yeosang admitted as soon as Sohyun had left them and closed the door behind her. He looked down at the pages in his hand. “I completed all the latitude exercises, but longitude... I’m just struggling with it. It doesn’t make sense.”

Yeosang was ashamed to admit this, even when there were only the two of them in the room. His father had very high expectations for him to follow in his footsteps, and Yeosang truly wanted to live up to and exceed those expectations. Navigating the distant Eastern seas was his dream for as long as he could remember, and his father had taught him the essentials on the side of his regular schoolwork.

But sometimes Yeosang hit a roadblock, and wasn’t sure he was cut out for the position.

“Come, let me have a look.” 

Yeosang proceeded to the large oak desk where his father sat, and lay the papers in front of him, peeping over his shoulder to watch him as he explained how to solve the problem. 

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. 

“Come in.”

It was Sohyun, with a nervous expression on her face. “Soldiers have come to the house, sir. And an Admiral Kim would like to speak with you privately.”

Yeosang’s jaw dropped. 

It was the men from the town, he was sure of it. 

“Very well, thank you.” Yeosang’s father turned and smiled at him tiredly. “I’m quite sure it’s just a business meeting. You remember our goal for next year, don’t you?”

“Applications for apprenticeship,” Yeosang answered, taking his papers back as they were handed to him. 

“That’s correct. I’d like you to continue working towards that goal, in the event that I must leave for a voyage.”

Yeosang couldn’t keep the frown off his face. He hated when his father left him alone in this squeaky clean, echoey house.

“Now, now, why the frown? I’m sure it won’t be anything severe. And perhaps I’ll leave you the key to the observatory, if I can trust you with that.”

That perked Yeosang up. The observatory was his favourite place on the grounds, and every visit his father allowed him was a treat.

Obediently, he left for his own bed chambers, but not without a glare over the balustrade at the small gathering of soldiers in the main hall. Soldiers in the house were always bad news.

A couple of hours of work later, Sohyun came in with the evening meal and the news that the Admiral and his men were still here and it would be best to remain in his room.

Yeosang had no objection to this, although after both the food and the work were finished, he was beginning to be bored. 

What a shame to be hidden away in his bedchambers when the most notorious criminal of the era was only a quick horseback ride away, and the Admiral himself was in your mansion.

Yeosang slipped out of his chambers and quietly made his way back to the front staircase, curling up at the balcony and listening intently to the hushed conversation below.

“Whatever it was they said about him having no ties was clearly wrong. He’s back because he has a child to take care of.”

They were talking about the pirate.

Another voice countered the first, “There’s no proof of that! How do you know he wasn’t travelling north to recruit or something else?”

“He’s been seen multiple times with a young boy!” The first shot back with the evidence. “If he meant to recruit him, he would do it and then sail away again. But he returns frequently to this beach to meet this child— so I think it’s his son.”

“Eden settling down and having children!” Laughter broke out below. “Never something I imagined.”

Yeosang had to agree. Piracy didn’t seem like the type of lifestyle that was conducive to domesticity and, well, childrearing. Pirates even having children seemed ludicrous when faced with the vicious barbarians that pirates were reported to be. 

Yeosang shivered with excitement. This was turning out to be quite exciting. 

“And what’s more, I hear the Admiral is going to, well, _compel_ the loathsome rat to reveal the location of his ship and his scumbag crew members. That’s why we’re here, to get the Head Navigator to help.”

“Oh, I thought we were here to hang the pirate savage.”

“No, you insufferable ninny. Why would we come all the way here just to kill him? We could have his whole crew.”

Yeosang’s smile was gone. So they were bringing Father with them on a voyage. He shuffled back to his chambers, unhappy with the new developments. 

Two hours after his bedtime had come and gone, he was sitting at the window seat with his astrolabe when his father entered. 

He was holding the observatory key.

Silently, Yeosang stood to accept it. “How long will you be gone?” He whispered, turning the key over in his hands and refusing to meet his father’s eye.

“I don’t know.” 

Yeosang struggled to stop a tear from leaving his eye, and it defied him by slipping down his face anyway. He remained silent as it dripped to the floor.

His father pulled him in to his arms, resting a protective hand on his hair. “You’ll be alright while I’m gone, won’t you?”

Yeosang nodded against his father’s chest. He would have to be alright.

“I’ll come back to you as soon as I can. I’m promising you. But in the meantime, you’re the man of the house. I know you’ll make me proud.”

Again Yeosang nodded. He had managed before, and he could do it again. 

“I’ll write your sister to make sure she’s nearby should anything happen,” his father said after a pause and began to pull away. Yeosang scrubbed away furiously at the evidence of tears and straightened. That was at least a comfort. Yeosang’s older sister was married and lived in a neighbouring town, but she could handle matters of the estate that Yeosang could not at twelve years old.

“Until next time?” 

His father smiled sadly at him until he nodded and repeated, “Until next time.”

Yeosang fell asleep clutching the observatory key. The key itself was a promise, and Yeosang intended to keep his side.


	2. Memoirs from Geobugi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He froze to his spot and listened intently for what was indeed a person outside the observatory moving around in the dead of night. Gravel protested under their feet and gave them away, but Yeosang stilled so that he almost wasn’t breathing as the sounds came closer.

The inevitable pull of the observatory only grew with time.

Yeosang tried to obey his father’s wishes and prioritise his studies and his apprenticeship search, but every day he walked past that room and something inside him itched for it.

His third day of boredom he snapped shut his textbook and tossed it aside. Once he poked his head into the sitting room to ensure Sohyun was still asleep in her chair, knitting slowly sliding off her lap, he made for the east wing.

The key slotted in the lock perfectly, and the large door swung open, revealing the treasure Yeosang was looking for.

The biggest attraction, of course, was the massive telescope pointed through the sizeable hole in the side of the room. It took up most of the space in the large dome and was held up by metal braces that allowed it to swing around when directed.

Thankfully for Yeosang, it was deep into spring, so a warm breeze brushed the inside of the observatory. In the winter the glass panes had to be set up to insulate the room, but until the seasons grew cold it would remain open for easier access to the main event; the sky.

Yeosang dragged over a chair and stood on it to see what the large contraption was pointed at. It was the moon, or a faint ghost of the moon, washed out in the bright midday sun. Yeosang gazed at it for awhile before stepping down.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much else to look at. There weren’t any clouds and it wasn’t dark enough for stars and other celestial objects yet. But there was all the other equipment in this observatory, and Yeosang could experiment with it for hours in the meantime.

His conscience twinged as he lay a hand on his father’s desk, but then again, he had given him the key to the observatory so surely there wouldn’t be anything important in these drawers?

It seemed he was right, at least judging by the first drawer which contained only extra protractors and quills.

Yeosang had never rifled through his father’s papers before, mostly because he had never been given the chance, but still as he scanned the contents of the drawers he wasn’t sure what he was looking for.

Intriguing correspondence with the King or the Admiral maybe... or rough maps and chart sketches from his travels east... or perhaps...

Letters from his mother?

Yeosang packaged that thought away before it could distract him. As much as he wanted to hear about his mother, if he found letters from her to his father or vice versa he wouldn’t read them. That would be a step too close to the edge of the cliff he was already precariously balanced on.

In the second drawer lay a single book.

There were, of course, bookshelves lining the wall behind the desk. But those were all books of science and theory and mathematics and Yeosang wanted books of adventure this time.

He prepared to have his hopes let down as he took the book in his hands. Why would his father be keeping a secret adventure book in his desk drawer?

But he noticed that the binding seemed hand-stitched and repaired several times and there was no title on the front. On the first page, in ink instead of moveable type, read the words “Memoirs from Geobugi.”

It was in his father’s handwriting.

Yeosang’s stomach flipped. He jerked his head up suddenly in apprehension, and scurried over to the door to lock himself in, just in case Sohyun awoke and came looking for him.

In his hands was a collection of his father’s tales as Head Navigator. He had struck gold.

Deciding quickly that reading about his father’s experience was just as good as looking for an apprenticeship like he was supposed to be doing, Yeosang pulled the chair up and sat himself down.

The first page was dated about five years ago. The title was “Talk of Beasts” and it shot Yeosang’s eyebrows to his hairline.

_ I hesitated to no end when Admiral Kim asked me on this voyage. The battles with pirate vessels near the archipelago have been bad enough, and there are rumours that piracy is thriving even more in the east. _

_ However, my position is navigator and I must fulfil it, whatever the danger. _

Yeosang already knew this. His father’s job often involved run-ins with pirates and other enemies but he always persisted because plotting the Navy’s headings was too important a responsibility to be left to anyone else.

He rummaged for some dried fruit in the lower drawers and skipped ahead past the days in ports on the archipelago while he munched. He already knew practically all there was to know about the islands near the mainland. The real mystery was about these beasts mentioned in the title.

_ There are several reasons I believe the Navy’s pressgang policy should be repealed. Other than the obvious moral questionability, I find it leads to the worst sort of talk on a ship. _

_ These aren’t sensible Navy soldiers, they’re average sailors. Commoners with overgrown imaginations and the gullibility to believe anything. Unfortunately, it’s led to the abundance of rumours on the Black Crow about mythical monsters awaiting us in the east. _

_ I heard some of the claims myself this afternoon when I ventured onto the quarterdeck to check the clouds and they seem quite baseless. _

_ Fire-breathing dragons sleeping on piles of treasure! Krakens with tentacles larger than the Black Crow’s mainmast!  _

_ These aren’t the first examples of commoners believing in magical creatures and forces. If I investigate, I’m sure I’ll find a scientific explanation or simple sea-madness as the cause. How could a large reptile such as a dragon survive on a pile of gold? Does it eat the gold? Surely it would need a constant supply of large mammals to support it. And why have we never found the dead body of a massive cephalopod afloat like those of whales? Surely the scavengers would feast on so many reported tentacles? _

Yeosang hummed in agreement. Everything his father said was very logical, although it was a bit of a disappointment that nothing exciting had happened yet, magical beasts or otherwise. He skimmed ahead, reading through recounted battles with pirates— three of them. The sun began to set even as he sat there, shadow turning with every hour like the hands on the grandfather clock in the corner of the room.

More talk of magic piqued his interest after many grimace-inducing details from bloody battle at sea.

_ The Quartermaster mentioned at breakfast that men have been jumping ship at night and still others reported hearing women singing.  _

_ I’ve begun plugging my ears at night, not because I’m afraid of siren song— sirens don’t exist— but because it’s awfully hard to get any sleep when surrounded by the screams of the drowning. Sailors really do go mad out here. _

Yeosang paled at this. Men jumping to their deaths from madness, and the officers did nothing to stop them? Then again, there wasn’t really anything they could do apart from throw the crew in the brig, and then who was to sail the ship? 

His stomach turned as he reread the sentence about the screams of the drowning. Sailing into the east must really change a person, and it was becoming clear that his father had seen and been through a lot of damaging things on his voyages. Yeosang wondered why he never talked about it anywhere but this book. 

A passage several chapters later made him giggle as he struck a match to light a candle for him read by.

_ By observing the patterns of the waves, I discerned that there was a collision of tectonic plates nearby that we ought to avoid. The sailors have been sending me their rum rations as a thanks, which I’ve been told is because they heard a magical force crushes all ships that sail through the Dagger Cliffs. Sailors and their rumours. I would attempt to show them reason, but that might stop the influx of rum so I think I’ll let this one go. _

For awhile, all he wrote about was some of his scientific discoveries. These he had already explained to Yeosang in his tutoring. The moon was high when Yeosang reached the halfway point of the book and another interesting revelation.

_ I advised against sailing into the doldrums, but the Admiral will defy me regardless. He has sources from a mole on the pirate Jinyoung’s crew that a pirate haven exists on the other side and intends to smoke them out. _

_ I’ve no idea how he plans to do this, but knowing the Admiral, it will be covertly. Some type of plan to infect their minds and rip them apart from the inside like he did to Captain Seongho’s fleet all those years ago. He certainly enjoys psychological torture the most. _

A shiver made its way down Yeosang’s spine.

Before he could turn the page, a noise outside startled him into dropping the book. 

He froze to his spot and listened intently for what was indeed a person outside the observatory moving around in the dead of night. Gravel protested under their feet and gave them away, but Yeosang stilled so that he almost wasn’t breathing as the sounds came closer.

Just as he had gathered the courage to turn around and confront them, something came flying through the open space and bounced off the telescope with a loud clang.

Yeosang shot to his feet and went to inspect it. A fist sized rock had been thrown and dented the metal brace holding the large telescope. After feeling around in the dark, Yeosang also discovered a screw had been knocked out.

Anger overtaking fear for a moment, he marched over to the open space in the dome to chase the criminal down himself if he had to. 

Not a person was in sight. Whomever had thrown the rock had disappeared. 

Realising in the fading adrenaline rush that he should have gone to bed hours ago, Yeosang grabbed the book and took the candle back to his bedroom. Now the eerie shadows on the walls were monsters silently trailing him until the flame was snuffed and he lay prone for them to devour him.

Nothing else moved in the silent mansion and he closed the door behind him and crawled into bed, blowing out the candle with a shaky breath. Yeosang’s thoughts lingered on the mysterious stranger outside.

No one had vandalised their observatory or any of the Kang family property until tonight. The culprit must have known the navigator would be gone and intended to scare Yeosang.

They had succeeded partly, because Yeosang’s dreams were filled with sirens and krakens but also the crunching gravel under the feet of a stranger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Yeosang’s story has finally started to gain some momentum! More will be coming soon, but first the next One to All chapter which is well underway. Comment and kudos and all that if you liked it <3 hmu on twt @/tiny_tokki too I’m more active there


	3. Navigating the World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A surprise visit from his older sister couldn't have come at a worse time.

When the dewdrops were fresh and rosy strands bent the sky, there was a certain smell that flooded the senses with spring.

Spring meant summer break was on its way.

Yeosang would much rather be poking around in the rain-soaked dirt and trying to predict the weather from the clouds than driving to school, but he clutched his bag close and rested in the thought that he’d be able to resume his father’s memoirs during his free time.

The carriage driver pulled up and opened the door in silence as he always did, and Yeosang watched him go before steeling himself for the day ahead. His weekend was over, and it was back to ducked heads and ignoring sharp words.

He had slept deeply enough to disperse the fear of the stranger on the gravel last night, but the curiosity lingered. Who was out there that would dare threaten him?

Yeosang could think of only one person with enough guts, and he was currently walking into the classroom.

Rim Yongsoo.

The ringleader of all the other name-callers. He was too cowardly to lay a finger on the Kang family heir, but his words were spears from afar.

Yeosang had learned to deflect the sharp attacks by ignoring them when one day Housekeeper Sohyun had entered his room to find him crying over something a classmate had said.

The whispers couldn’t hurt him if he blocked them out, she had reminded him gently, so every day he sat in his seat as if he was the only one in the room.

If any of the bullies had gotten bold in his father’s absence, it would be Yongsoo.

For the first time in the past month, Yeosang opened his mouth before class to make his accusation.

“Yongsoo, you wouldn’t happen to recognise this, would you?”

Confidently, Yeosang pulled the rock which had been thrown into the observatory out of his bag and waved it in Yongsoo’s face.

The other boy took a moment before his face cleared of shock and turned accusatory. “When did you become interested in rocks, pansy? Aren’t you usually staring at the sky?”

Yeosang’s jaw clenched as snickers followed and he couldn’t help but defend himself. “Don’t call me pansy.”

“My mistake,” Yongsoo returned, saccharine voice accompanied by a fake frown. “I though you preferred it over damsel in distress!”

“Were you or were you not on my property last night?” Yeosang’s voice raised almost imperceptibly to break through the laughter sweeping the classroom.

“ _Your_ property? No, I don’t think it’s yours as long as your father’s around. Although I suppose if he actually drowns at sea this time...”

Yeosang’s face was burning and the rock clenched in his fist threatened to scratch him from how tightly he was holding it, so he slammed it onto the boy’s desk, interrupting yet another round of giggles.

“This is the last time I’m asking, Yongsoo,” he grit out, relishing secretly the way the bully’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Don’t make me take it up with your father.”

He had hit a nerve.

“No I wasn’t near your estate,” Yongsoo defended quickly. “I spent the night at Hyunjoon’s.”

Yeosang released the rock and turned to the other boy’s desk, asking with his eyes if he could confirm Yongsoo’s alibi.

Hyunjoon wasn’t a bully like Yongsoo and his lackeys, but he wasn’t exactly friendly toward Yeosang either. At the very least, he knew he wouldn’t lie about something like this, so Yeosang waited for him to adjust his glasses and clear his throat before answering.

“Yes, we were camping. Sorry, Yeosang, I would have invited you, but...”

But it was Yeosang.

No one wanted him at their gatherings, not when it took a carriage driver to bring him there and a stern talking to from their parents that they had better not injure him and risk legal action from the Navigator. He wasn’t much fun to play with anyway.

Yeosang lived inside a glass box that was too cumbersome to share with anyone else.

But he trusted Hyunjoon. Everything added up. Yongsoo hadn’t been at his house last night.

The teacher chose that moment to enter the room and interrupt the investigation Yeosang was conducting, and he immediately blushed and retrieved his rock before returning to his desk and blocking out the whispers that inevitably followed when he plucked up the courage to speak in class.

Yeosang worked diligently and tried not to spend too much time daydreaming about maritime adventures and mysterious rock-throwing strangers, but the moment he was let out for lunch, he couldn’t help but pull out his father’s journal.

Underneath a tree far from the other boys as they roughhoused, he opened to the page where he had left off.

_If such things as miracles exist, I have just been the beneficiary of one. After much persuasion, Admiral Kim agreed to take the long way around the doldrums. He trusts my judgment and I insisted upon it after taking the morning measurements._

_The easterly winds spelled doom and the pressure on my instruments, the smell and the stillness of the sea... all pointed to a massive storm on the horizon, waiting for us in the doldrums that lay ahead._

This. This was the often forgotten but extremely important facet of navigation that Yeosang’s father had pioneered. 

Any sailor worth his salt could sense a storm before it hit, but with his weather instruments, Navigator Kang knew well in advance what was coming and just how big it would be.

Yeosang smiled to himself as he read the measurement report. His father was indeed a hero.

_It will be twice as long of a trip to the pirate havens ahead, but the Admiral would rather have a ship and a crew to destroy them with than sail headlong into a disaster._

Yeosang turned pages and pages of entries as his father appeared to have grown bored with the day to day duties he fulfilled.

Soon he was called back inside and finished the rest of his lessons as quickly as he could get away with. 

He was so absorbed in his father’s memoirs that he didn’t notice the carriage which had pulled up in front of the estate as he went inside and plopped down in the sitting room where Sohyun was setting up a snack for him, immediately delving back into his book.

_The men complain increasingly of hunger and it has become difficult to even leave my room. Always another soldier begging at my door, always the stench of death when another has dropped of starvation._

Yeosang grimaced but read on.

_Some are under the impression that we officers hoard the supplies for ourselves and have been caught stealing from our stores. I don’t know the amount of their rations, but we aren’t feasting like kings in the Captain’s cabin, I am sure of that._

“Yeosang, always with his nose in a book. What’s this?” 

It was his sister Yeseul, peering over his shoulder and guessing aloud, “Adventure on the high seas?”

Immediately, Sohyun snapped to attention and pulled the book out of Yeosang’s hands, replacing it with his arithmetic homework before the boy had a chance to open his mouth.

A surprise visit from his older sister couldn’t have come at a worse time.

“You ruin everything, Yeseul,” Yeosang sulked, poised aristocrat’s son disintegrating into petulant young boy for a moment. “I thought Father was writing to make sure you were nearby, not in the house bossing me around.”

“Well, you seem to have lost your manners. I thought you might be happy to see me,” Yeseul huffed, sitting herself down daintily in the chair across from him. “And what are you doing reading adventure books? Father said you were supposed to be searching for an apprenticeship.”

She levelled a challenging glare at him and he couldn’t help but roll his eyes in return. No one brought out his sarcasm like Yeseul. “What’s it to you if I’d rather play pirate?”

Yeseul sobered at this, a cloud breaking over her face. “Don’t joke about those people,” she warned sternly. “They’re very real and they do horrible things.”

“I know, I’ve read about them!” Yeosang smirked, nodding toward the journal still in the housekeeper’s clutches.

Immediately, he realised his mistake.

Sohyun obediently handed the book over at Yeseul’s request, and all Yeosang could do was watch as the thing was scrutinised cover to cover.

“Father’s memoirs,” Yeseul finally said.

“You’ve read them before?” Yeosang temporarily abandoned his misgivings for a sense of awe that Yeseul had once had a sense of adventure in her own youth.

“Yes, I’ve read them. You and Father love to forget, but I did grow up here too, you know.”

Yeseul was much older, so she had grown, married, and moved before he could make any real memories with her.

“But the content of this is not suitable for a twelve-year-old.” She raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow curiously. “He doesn’t know you’re reading this, does he?”

Yeosang sighed and hid his face in his arithmetic. That was answer enough for his older sister.

“Yeosang—”

“He gave me the key!” Yeosang protested, ignoring her admonition at raising his voice. “The key to the observatory, he gave it to me.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re allowed to go rifling through his desk,” she scolded primly. “And seeing as I’m in charge now, I’m confiscating it.”

Yeosang didn’t hold back his whining at this, but was promptly ignored as Yeseul changed the subject.

“I’ve decided to hold a ball this weekend. It’ll be your first, aren’t you excited?”

Yeosang blinked twice before realising she was looking at him with anticipation and stuttering, “Well, y-yes I suppose so, but... can’t you hold it at your own house?”

Yeseul tilted her head and tutted at him. “Yeosang, there hasn’t been a ball thrown here since, what? My wedding?”

“If you just want to use our ballroom, go ahead,” he sighed after a moment to work out what exactly she was getting at. “But I don’t have to be there, do I?

He was already tired of the constant bickering that was inevitable every time he and his sister met, and the confiscation of the memoirs meant he had to plan a way to get them back.

“Yeosang!” She was completely exasperated now, a hand brushing her hair back from her face and back into the intricate updo she had crafted. “I’m throwing this ball for _you!_ To make some connections with potential masters— for your apprenticeship!”

Yeosang’s mouth clicked shut. He couldn’t very well argue with that. It would most certainly be a long boring night of adults ruffling his hair and breaking into his father’s best wines but he couldn’t think of any excuse to get out of it.

So he acquiesced for the rest of the day and waited until his moment.

He needed to get the journal back.

It was just after midnight when he crept down the carpeted hallway, lantern in hand, and halted outside the main guest suite.

Yeseul was a light sleeper, but Yeosang had an advantage. He prowled these halls in the dark much more frequently than she did, and though a misstep would land him in trouble, it was unlikely that he would make one.

Once he reached the door, he placed the lantern on the rug faced away from the door in case a sliver of light bled through the crack, and set his hand on the doorknob.

Painstakingly slow, he turned the knob silently and pushed the door open, creeping inside and closing it.

He would have to navigate in the dark.

As soon as his eyes adjusted, he spotted the book on the bedside table, at the bottom of a stack of invitations to neighbouring wealthy families for the ball that Yeseul had been working all day on.

Yeosang moved stealthily to her bedside, barely daring to breathe as he quietly slid the book out and slipped back out into the hall.

He’d have to read the rest of this section by lantern light and return the book so that she never knew it had been taken.

Yeosang knew he would be struggling to stay awake in class tomorrow, but the conclusion of this survival scene was too enticing to postpone.

Suppressing a shiver of excitement, he opened up to where he had left off.

_The Admiral had hoped by now there would be an island, even if all it has for us is freshwater. But the sailors don’t call it the doldrums for nothing._

The Black Crow reached the other side after a long struggle, nearly half its crew killed without a fight. More and more, Yeosang was realising how massive the expanse of sea to the east truly was.

_We have reached an island. I went with the exploration party to discover whether it was inhabited and while it was not, an empty fortification stood facing the west. I wonder if a civilisation once lived here and warred against our own people._

_Admiral Kim wants to take the fortress for the Navy’s, but that left us in the uncomfortable position of not having enough soldiers to press on and sack the elusive pirate haven that still waits in the east._

_I’ve shared my suspicions with the other officers that I think the pirate Jinyoung may have sent a faulty location to us on purpose. The Admiral is furious at the prospect, but I have to admit I’m still grateful for the opportunities I’ve had on this voyage to chart portions of the east. We begin our return journey at dawn, and will return with more men and supplies in pursuit of the pirate scum once more._

Yeosang sighed contentedly and closed the book on what seemed to be part one of his father’s adventure memoirs. It wasn’t as storybook perfect as the adventure novels he adored, but that was life.

Once more he snuck into Yeseul’s bedchamber, this time with the added challenge of moving all the invitations to put the book back in the exact same spot.

He worked a little more carelessly than he had the first time, sleep pulling at his eyelids and making him impatient to be done with it, but the slight rustle of the invitation stack falling over and halting as Yeosang caught it was incentive enough to slow down.

As soon as everything was positioned to his satisfaction, Yeosang inched his way back out and only exhaled when the door was shut and he was on his way back.

He settled into bed to catch a few hours of sleep before his school schedule forced him awake, blissfully unaware of the stranger that lurked outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your patience guys <3 I'll be finishing the semester with some exams and papers this week, and as soon as that's finished you can expect me to be more active. Until then, enjoy and don't forget to comment!


	4. The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Faster, faster, until the trees were dark and mangled, twisting around him in foreign patterns, shadows jeering at him just like the party guests. His vision was obscured with tears but Yuma wasn’t slowing down. Suddenly a dark shape came into view, an overhanging branch directly in Yeosang’s path, and he couldn’t clear it—

For the first time, Yeosang would actually rather be at school.

Instead he stood, still as a statue, while a seamstress poked and prodded him to take his measurements for the suit she was hired to make him.

Not his idea. Yeseul’s.

She flashed a charming smile at him from where she oversaw everything in a parlour armchair, reading through responses to her invitations, and sipping from her thoroughly sugared tea. 

When the seamstress finally retreated to write down the measurements, Yeosang released the breath he had been holding and asked if he could be excused yet.

“No, I’m afraid you’ll need to hang around until later when we can review dance steps because even if you did learn, I’m sure you never used it,” she said matter-of-factly while the seamstress brought out some fabrics for her to inspect. “Do what you like until then, but no horseback riding. You’ll get dirty or injure yourself, so stay inside.”

Which left reading as the only option. And Yeosang had just the book in mind.

His father’s memoirs picked up with the Black Crow’s second expedition east and it was after a brief stay in Coral Harbour that whispers of pirate havens made their way onto the page. They came into port at a neutral island with no military presence after setting sail from the newly constructed fortress and the action had Yeosang on the edge of his seat.

_They flee before us like guilty men, but this isn’t the pirate haven we’ve been told about. If enemy ships come here, it can only be for repairs and restocking, judging from how sparse the docks were on our arrival. The Admiral has cornered a shopkeeper into spilling the rumours of what lies to the east and even as I write them, I wonder how prepared we are to face down what— or who— awaits us._

The door opening shocked Yeosang out of his concentration and he clutched the book tight to his chest. 

It was Yeseul, hurrying over to her vanity and rifling through various shades of rouge. “Didn’t I confiscate that book?” She asked distractedly.

“Well,” he shot back. “Seeing as how I’m forbidden from riding—”

“Fine,” she said on her way out. “Just don’t let Father find out you’ve been reading it.”

A warning that made Yeosang delve all the more excitedly into the pages.

_I trust his words even though he gave them in return for his life. After a great deal of warning about hiring in the markets and mutinies and independently run island dictatorships, he uttered a name; Geobugi. The central pirate haven in the area with eyewitness accounts of some of the pirates on our list. Jinyoung, Minho, Donghyuck, Ren... And the Dread Pirate Eden._

By the time the cherry trees were in bloom, the ball was a day away and Yeosang was reading the horrible account of the Black Crow’s sound thrashing as blossoms gently fell to the grass beside him.

It gave Yeosang pause to consider the violence that was dealt, the death his father had witnessed that day. Pirates did not take kindly to interference and the Navy’s prodding had cost them in lives.

In that moment he hated Eden, but he harboured a secret grudge against Admiral Kim as well. After all, it was his idea to pursue them to Geobugi, and like cornered animals they had struck back ferociously. Still, they deserved to die for their crimes. 

Father and Admiral Kim had Eden in custody now, bringing them to the location of his ship and crew if Yeosang had overheard correctly on the night he left. This was their chance for revenge, for the lost soldiers of the Black Crow to not have died in vain. 

Yeosang bit back his worry as he read the final paragraph.

_I am torn perfectly in two between my desire to make discoveries and my duty to my household. The eastern sea is a lawless desert waste of ocean with secret civilisations and feats of science yet to be uncovered. But it is dangerous, and owned by the enemy. The war stories written here do not begin to cover the things I have seen and experienced. I have my son’s future to consider, an estate to return to, and a life to live out in service to the king. For now I will stay in friendly waters, and if the Admiral calls again I will answer honourably to the best of my ability._

It ended there.

As he let the book shut, Yeosang realised at some point he had stopped reading an adventure story. These pirates had stopped looking like the swashbuckling rebels they were before. He didn’t want to ride Yuma into the woods and play with his pretend swords anymore. He wanted to make a real difference, and if that meant apprenticeship, maybe this ball wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

As he dressed for the ball, fingers playing with the crimson trim on his midnight black suit, he wondered what Father would say if he were here.

Probably something about how proud he was that he was following in his footsteps, maybe a comment about how much he looked like him at that age, at least according to the portrait of him and Mother that sat over the fireplace.

Mother. What would she say?

It was always a pointless question. Yeosang never knew her, he didn’t know what she would have thought about him or any of the unfortunate events that had become his life. 

Sometimes he liked to imagine that she was there with him, encouraging him to work hard when he studied and holding him when he cried alone in his bedroom. 

Maybe right now she’d be standing behind him, looking at his reflection in the mirror and squeezing his shoulders with excitement.

“You’re ready to join society now, love,” she would say. “Time to go.”

“Yeosang sir? Time to go.”

Yeosang shook himself out of it at the voice of the seamstress outside his door. He opened it for her and let her have a good look at him.

She hummed in delight at her own craftsmanship and escorted him to the ballroom. Already the smells and sounds of a party wafted out.

With a deep breath, Yeosang walked in and immediately froze. It was the ballroom he had run through many times when he was younger, sailing his toy ships on the windowsills and making faces at his reflection in the polished floor. Except it looked completely different— it looked alive.

Crystal chandeliers sparkled in the light, twirling down in sharp spirals from the arching ceiling, freshly painted to resemble the royal blue of the night sky. 

Below, the guests chattered and danced, gowns of emerald, ruby, and amethyst flashing before him in a rush of colour. Yeosang waded through the crowd, eyes caught on his sister, her gown a shadowy grey and her throat bejewelled with a necklace so dainty it looked like drops of mist strung together. 

“Yeosang!” She gasped when he came into view. “You look absolutely dashing— everyone’s looking at you!”

“No, Yeseul,” he hissed back. “Everyone’s looking at _you_ because you’re loud.”

She waved it off and pulled him over, however begrudgingly, into a circle of uniformed men to introduce him.

He bowed at the correct angles and smiled just the right amount like he had been taught and listened to them prattle on about hiring difficulties and crew inspections and other old men things he didn’t care about while trying to nod every once in awhile to make it seem like he was paying them more attention than the hors d’œuvres the servers were presenting them.

“This kind of discussion isn’t really up to your speed, is it?” One of the men leaned over and whispered with a grin. Bang Si-Hyuk, Yeosang’s brain supplied as he blushed and looked away.

“Now, now,” Si-Hyuk laughed quietly and Yeosang noticed the main conversation going on without them as if they were never there. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. After all, if you’re anything like that esteemed father of yours, you want to be a navigator, not some gold-eyeing, ladder-climbing ship officer. I’m correct there, aren’t I?”

Yeosang eyed the captain suspiciously. He had introduced himself as a privateer— that meant he had worked independently as a pirate prior to being commissioned by the Navy. He had real experience out there, unlike the rest of the aristocrats in the circle who probably sat in their cabins all day hoarding the rum during voyages. 

“Yes, I suppose,” he answered after a beat. This was his chance to be noticed, singled out for his ambition and skill, and hired on in a position that gave him real status he could use to change the world, not just inherited riches that could buy him into a comfortable life. “I’d very much like to explore the eastern oceans as he has.”

“Eastern oceans?” A voice interjected from the other side of the circle. They had finally paid attention to the private conversation Si-Hyuk had initiated with Yeosang and wanted in on the action. “Did someone say the eastern oceans?”

Yeosang smiled back and nodded. Good, now they would start talking about how they needed brave navigators to pave the way through uncharted waters, and he would step up and show off his skills and how advanced they already were, and then—

“Oh, you can have him, Si-Hyuk,” the man laughed loudly, winking at Yeosang in a way that made his toes curl. “I’m not interested in getting the poor boy killed.”

“Come now, I’ve never lost any of my hires in the east,” Si-Hyuk fought back, a protective hand on Yeosang’s back. “Besides, he’s a brave lad like his father.”

Now they were talking about him like he wasn’t there, and Yeosang had experienced plenty of that in his eleven years to make him confident he hated it.

“He reminds me more of his mother, actually,” a new voice commented. It was a deeper voice, and the man looked to be around his Father’s age.

Yeosang stiffened at the mention of his mother. She was rarely mentioned aloud, especially by strangers. “Though I’m not sure she would’ve approved of a journey to the east, not with the pirate scum running about,” the man went on. 

Yeosang cast a glance at Yeseul to see her reaction. Her smile was practiced and pleasant as ever, but there was a tension in her forehead that gave her away. She was just as uncomfortable with this gossip as he was.

“How did you know her?” Another of the men asked, and Yeosang was itching to run away. He didn’t want to hear this, he didn’t want to know...

“Oh, I courted her once,” the deep-voiced man responded, a fond twinkle in his eye. 

“You mean _tried_ to,” a shorter, stockier officer scoffed. “So did half the naval academy, and she wasn’t easy to woo.”

Yeosang felt sick, and he wondered if excusing himself would seem rude. He quietly backed away as they began commenting on how heartbreaking her passing was, hoping they wouldn’t look for him or notice his absence, and made for the far corner of the ballroom.

He hadn’t even danced yet and already the flurry of activity and flashing colours were making his head spin.

Suddenly, everywhere he turned someone was staring at him, pointing a finger at him, or whispering about him. 

He needed to get out. Now.

Pulling the ridiculous feathers off the lapels of his jacket, Yeosang took the stairs two by two and ran to the stables.

Yuma neighed happily as his saddle was strapped on, and at the slightest nudge he took Yeosang away towards the woods, following the familiar path they always took.

The officers’ words clanged around the inside of Yeosang’s head. 

_ Getting the poor boy killed... a brave lad like his father... Mother wouldn’t approve a journey to the east... pirate scum running around... _

Where had it all gone wrong? One moment, he was excited to see Si-Hyuk ready to give him a chance, the next he was overwhelmed with information about his parents and fleeing faster than he had ever galloped away, passing the clearing and urging Yuma on.

Faster, faster, until the trees were dark and mangled, twisting around him in foreign patterns, shadows jeering at him just like the party guests. His vision was obscured with tears but Yuma wasn’t slowing down. 

Suddenly a dark shape came into view, an overhanging branch directly in Yeosang’s path, and he couldn’t clear it—

_ Thunk! _

The wood made contact with his skull and suddenly he was falling, the weight flying out from underneath him until he hit the grass hard and light flashed behind his eyes.

Even as the shadows closed in, he knew he had made a mistake. He was lost and injured in the woods, and the night concealed him while the party went on obliviously miles and miles away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A long one because I was away for awhile (I don't recommend getting sick). This chapter is also a late birthday present to my sister whose bias is Yeosang :) Next up, The Windy Road gets an update and then One to All. Please comment if you enjoyed!


	5. Kidnapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was either Yeseul somehow gaining access to Father’s riches or death.

Yeosang’s head pulsated with pain as he carefully opened his eyes.

The faint sound of someone laughing reached his ears and for a split second before taking in his surroundings, Yeosang thought he might still be back at the party after all.

But as he looked around, the rest of the evening came back. His uncomfortable encounter with the naval officers, fleeing from the party on Yuma, hitting a branch and falling off, passing out somewhere in the forest.

It seemed he had been rescued.

He lay on a sleeping mat spread across a cool wooden floor. It looked like someone’s house, but the room was mostly bare and there were no windows. The laughter presumably came from an adjoining room beyond the sliding door where light leaked through the bottom.

Yeosang lifted a hand to his aching head and flinched when it made contact with what must surely be a massive bruise.

A small round mirror was mounted on the wall opposite his bed, so Yeosang shakily got to his feet and inspected it himself. The skin was a startling purple blended in with pinker skin that hadn’t been hurt as badly.

Yeosang swallowed dryly and scanned the rest of the room. He wasn’t sure where he was and even if he did know, he wasn’t sure how to treat his own injury.

At home, if even so much as a pesky hangnail brought Yeosang discomfort, someone was there to remove it in an instant.

The longer he stood there, the more his back and legs started to ache and so he lowered himself back to the bed mat. Walking around after being thrown from a horse was probably not the best idea.

“Where’s Yuma?” Yeosang suddenly whispered to himself. His beloved steed had simply kept going, urged on to dangerous speeds by his rider. Wherever Yuma was, Yeosang hoped he wasn’t hurt as well.

Apparently, his small noise had garnered some attention. The whispering voices on the other side of the door had stopped, and now someone was coming in.

The stranger didn’t look like Yeosang expected him to. He was expecting some kind old woodsman or maybe one of the women from town who frequented these woods.

This man was tall and tanned with a muscular build and a glint in his singular eye that did not remind Yeosang of a kind woodsman in the slightest.

“Already up and about are we?” The stranger tutted at him in a gruff voice, arms folded across his chest.

Yeosang was too busy staring at the eyepatch to answer until the man moved closer to him.

“Um... yes, I was just—“ Yeosang’s voice died on him and his mind emptied itself of anything he might say in response.

“I see this has captured your attention,” the man chuckled, pointing to his eyepatch. “Bet you’re interested how I got it.”

Yeosang didn’t deny it, nodding hesitantly.

“It was given to me by none other than the malicious, venomous, greedy monster of a man that goes by the name of Admiral Kim.”

Yeosang sucked in a gasp.

“Yes, I believe you know him,” the stranger said, the aloofness in his tone turning to a sneer of anger. “Considering that it was your father who led him to me!”

The truth suddenly dawned on Yeosang.

This wasn’t a rescue, this was a kidnapping.

The man lurking outside in the night, the one who threw the rock— this must be him. He had found Yeosang in the woods, and he had taken him here.

“Who are you?” Yeosang choked out.

“I  _ was _ Captain Seongho of the Hammerhead, finest vessel on the Eastern Sea in the golden age of piracy. Now I’m a no-name wanderer without a crew and without a ship, while younger buccaneers flee for their lives before the Admiral and his bloodbath.”

Seongho. Captain Seongho...

Yeosang recognised the name. It was in his father’s memoirs.

_ Some type of plan to infect their minds and rip them apart from the inside like he did to Captain Seongho’s fleet all those years ago. He certainly enjoys psychological torture the most. _

No, no, no.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to work.

Yeosang was supposed to finish reading and then go back to his day. The story wasn’t supposed to just... come to life.

“He tore my crew apart without firing a single round. He promised them things and they turned on me or died by his hands. I was going to unite all pirate brothers against him, I built the haven that shelters the last of the outcasts, I made the final stand against the Navy before it was all out war on our trading routes. It was  _ me _ . And now look at what I’ve become... a shell and no more.”

Seongho was deep into his tale, his eyes and his mind faraway from the little cabin he had Yeosang captured in, but as much as he knew it was his opportunity to escape, Yeosang wanted to know the next part.

“He came in the night when I had no one left. The fleet was disbanded. My officers had jumped ship. You see, the Admiral is a patient man. He sunk the Hammerhead and took my eye with it. He might as well have taken my life.”

Yeosang was inclined to feel sorry for him.

“There’s nothing I can take from the Admiral. He’s untouchable on his death-bringer of a ship... but that’s alright. I’ve got you.”

Right. Suddenly Yeosang was looking for an exit again. “Why are you doing this?” He demanded through the shaking of his voice.

“Well, the motivation is twofold,” Seongho smiled lopsidedly. “On the one hand, it’s a sweet slice of revenge served to your father for what he did to me. On the other, it’s the ticket to riches and a cushy ship out of this rotten country.”

“Riches?”

“By now,” Seongho checked his pocket watch and began to pace the room. “My bandits have delivered a ransom note to your front door. If the Navigator doesn’t pay up within twenty-four hours, he can expect your body at the front door next.”

Yeosang’s mouth went completely dry. “B-but my father—“

“Didn’t mean to hurt me?” Seongho cut him off, eyebrows raised in a clear challenge. “If he didn’t mean to, maybe he shouldn’t have led the Admiral to my hideout on Dalhae.”

“N-no, he’s...” Yeosang’s lips trembled in fear and tears were already clouding his vision. “He’s not at home. He’s on a v-voyage, I don’t know for how long—“

“Is that so?” Seongho leaned close and grabbed the back of Yeosang’s head with a grimy hand the size of his face. “Things don’t look good for you, then.”

Yeosang was frozen to his seat as Seongho and the men flanking him disappeared behind the door again and he was left alone.

When he finally felt like he could release a breath, it was gasped out and he rolled onto his side.

The pain in his head was practically forgotten now.

He was a prisoner, and if Yeseul didn’t figure out how to pay his ransom, he was a dead prisoner.

Maybe if Yeosang pinched himself hard enough, he would wake up.

All he could do was lay there shaking and look at the door, dreading what would come if it was opened again.

If his father was going to surprise him and come home, now would be good time.

...

The shadows underneath the door had shifted slightly when Yeosang opened his eyes again. 

He must have cried himself to sleep and now he had nothing to do but stare at the logs that made up the ceiling and ruminate on his own approaching death.

It was either Yeseul somehow gaining access to Father’s riches or death.

Or escape.

Yeosang thought back to every guilty pleasure adventure book he had indulged in for an escape idea. 

First, he figured he should look around the room for something he could use as a weapon... just in case.

It was frustratingly bare. All that decorated it was the mat bed and the mirror on the wall. Unless Yeosang wrenched the doorknob off somehow, there wasn’t anything he could use to defend himself.

As he rose and went to inspect his aching head in the mirror again, it hit him.

The mirror.

He could smash it and use a shard to threaten the bandits guarding the door, but he’d have to move very quickly or risk the noise alerting them.

Yeosang took a deep breath and stared at his reflection for a moment before rearing back his fist and smashing it into the mirror.

A noise suddenly came from the outside, the sound of someone dropping something in surprise.

Yeosang winced with pain and waved his bloody fist to try to shake it off. Scooping up the largest shard, he hurried over to the door, trying not to fall over from the dizziness washing over him.

Just as he’d expected, the door suddenly slid open and a bandit stuck his head in the room. Yeosang used the moment to pounce on the man, digging the shard into his arm and dashing outside.

He’d used his distraction, now he had to get as far away as he could.

Trees whipped past as his legs pumped beneath him and the slope of the land curved downward.

Yeosang had no idea where he was and it was likely the middle of the night or the early hours of morning, so all he could do was stumble over roots and stumps and flee for his life before the quickening steps behind him caught up.

“Yuma?” He screamed into the misty forest. “Yuma! Are you still out there?”

Frustration took hold when he reached the bottom of the hill and splashed into a shallow stream. Yeosang could see nothing around him save for the faint light of the moon filtering through in hollow beams.

The bushes rustled behind him and the footsteps grew closer. He should have run upwards.

“Help!” He yelled into the trees ahead of him, tripping up the hill as fast as he could, giving up on Yuma and calling for anyone who might be nearby. “Someone help me!”

The tears were sticky on his face and he rubbed them away with a bloody hand, trying not to shake too much and lose his footing.

“Please...” he continued to mumble, reaching the top and catching his breath before plunging into the darkness again. “Please, anybody...”

A hand clamped onto his ankle and pulled him back. In his shock, he could only let out a single cry before careening back down into the stream.

Yeosang struggled as much as he could but his strength was fading and the forest spun around him. “No, please...”

He saw a foot and a peg leg plant themselves in the mud next to him and looked up. There was Seongho, frowning down at him while one of his bandits restrained the boy.

“Foolish move, Yeosang. You just cost yourself three hours.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeey so I’m sure you all heard about the writing contest for ateez. If the website ever gets back up I’m considering entering so I’ll let you know! Anyway, hope you liked this chapter and let me know what you thought <3


	6. Last Hour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeosang didn’t want to be touched. He didn’t even want to be looked at. He just wanted to sleep and forget this whole thing ever happened.

Yeosang didn’t know how many hours were left. He’d stopped keeping track.

In the moments when he awoke, once again prone on the sleeping mat of the log cabin, this time with a bandit staring him down and blood dried on him, he realised that his fate was no longer in his own hands.

It never really had been.

The only hope he had left was that this Captain Seongho wanted the money more than he wanted Yeosang dead.

Eventually the grumbling of his stomach won out and he cleared his throat to ask his guard if he would be granted some food.

Apparently unsure whether to listen to the prisoner or not, the man left the room briefly and returned with the Captain.

Sunlight beamed through the crack beneath the sliding door and Yeosang wondered if they’d let him look at the sky before they killed him. He had missed his chance to see the stars.

“So, you think you’re of superior intelligence, boy? Pulling tricks to run away again?” The pirate chuckled when the two of them were alone. It wasn’t an outright denial of his request, as he handed over a scrap of bread and watched him eat it, hawklike. “Don’t think you can pull tricks on me. I’m not the idiot that missed when he threw a rock at your observatory to knock you unconscious and capture you and then opened the door and let you stab him in the arm last night. He’s been  _ released _ from service.”

Yeosang finally met his captor’s eyes, confused.

“Yes,” Seongho went on. “My bandits have been loitering around your mansion to capture you all week, despite doing a very poor job at it. It was fate that served you up to me on a silver platter in the woods. Now, if only your father would appear with your ransom.”

Yeosang choked on tears and lowered his head in despair. “He won’t. He’s far away.”

“Then he will regret it,” Seongho muttered. There wasn’t much else in his voice to indicate how he felt about the matter. Yeosang doubted he was capable of feeling anything at all anymore.

Yeosang didn’t have a chance to beg for mercy before the sudden boom of an explosion interrupted them.

Shocked by the loud noise, he backed into the corner of the room and covered his ears with his hands, watching Seongho shoot to his feet and run out to see what was happening.

From the screams and the continuing shots, it seemed the pirates were under attack and even as he trembled at the violent bang of gunfire, a glimmer of hope sparked in his mind.

Could Father be coming to save him?

The sudden thought had him opening his mouth to call out his location when, in a flash of movement, the pirate captain was back in the room, restraining him quickly and dragging him away.

He yelled into the hand muffling his screams and struggled the whole way out the door but a voice broke into his struggles and both he and the pirate stilled.

There were bodies on the grass, unmoving and bloodied. Yeosang squeezed his eyes shut.

“We’ve got you surrounded!”

It wasn’t Father, but Yeosang recognised the voice.

“Hand him over now and you won’t be harmed.”

Bang Si-Hyuk. It was Privateer Bang Si-Hyuk.

Prying open his eyes, Yeosang finally saw him. Despite being the same person, he looked completely different than he did that night of the ball, all smiles and gentlemanly grace.

This man had fire in his eyes, and he was pointing a gun at the pirate unwaveringly.

Yeosang could feel Seongho seize up, his hold tightening painfully. Tears gathered much to his embarrassment as a knife was pressed to his neck.

“Please,” Yeosang whispered, not even sure who he was addressing. “Please, I don’t want to die...”

There was a single moment of standoff, of silent battle between both men with Yeosang caught helplessly in the middle. And in a heartbeat he was dropped in the dirt, the pirate captain fleeing the other way and Yeosang unable to do anything but cower on the ground, afraid a volley of shots would follow him, catching his prone form in the crossfire.

Instead, arms enveloped him, protecting arms this time, and he finally relaxed and let out the sobs that had been building all day.

“You’re alright now,” his rescuer hushed him. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

Yeosang didn’t respond. He hardly even knew the privateer. But he let his emotions out while there were arms shielding him from the world and pretended they were his father’s.

It had been a long time since he had been held like that.

At some point he was lifted into the man’s saddle and supported from behind as the rescue party began the journey home. The woods around him were unfamiliar and passed by in a blurry haze before he was composed enough to start asking questions.

“How did you know where to find me?”

“I used to be one of them,” Si-Hyuk grunted. “I know how they think. Piracy is all about manoeuvring. If Seongho took you, it’s because he was desperate enough to think your father’s fortune worth the risk.”

Desperate was an understatement. Captain Seongho seemed  _ destroyed _ .

“Are you... are you going to catch him?”

“Don’t worry yourself with that,” came the answer. “Let’s just focus on getting you home to your sister.”

Yeosang swallowed and nodded, sitting back and letting the familiar sway of a horse’s trot take him home.

Yeseul was waiting in the entryway, crimson dress wrinkled from where she had been nervously twisting her hands in it, and she pulled her brother close when he was helped down from the privateer’s white horse.

“Yeosang, I was terrified,” she admitted tearfully while he pressed his face to her hair. He didn’t want to think about it anymore, just as it was sinking in that the aftermath was only beginning.

“I didn’t know who else to call...” Yeseul shuddered before reaching up a hand to grasp Bang’s with gratitude. “I can’t thank you enough, Captain.”

After a moment longer of the embrace, breathing in Yeseul’s perfume and the scent of the garden flowers and feeling the wind gently tousle his hair, he released her and took a hesitant step inside.

From the marble floor to the crystal chandelier, everything was exactly the same. The servants were lined up to greet him, relief and pity mingled in their eyes, and Housekeeper Sohyun dried her own tears with a handkerchief before reaching for Yeosang’s hand.

“You were sorely missed, young master,” she assured him with a sad smile. He squeezed her hand before being led away upstairs to his room, where he sat on his perfectly made covers and gripped the bedpost, exhaling properly for the first time since waking up in that log cabin.

Misty-eyed again, he looked around the comforting landscape of the space while Yeseul explained how she was concerned when Yuma returned without him the night of the party and Si-Hyuk, overhearing her panic, volunteered to take some of his men and go on a search.

“Father is likely too far to send any correspondence to,” she sighed, sitting down next to him. “Otherwise I would ask him to come home. I don’t like the boldness of that pirate scum— to lurk around the estate and kidnap you and demand money... Oh, Yeosang, did he hurt you?”

Suddenly she rose and pulled him to his feet as well to be inspected.

“No!” He objected a bit too loudly, pulling away and lifting a hand to his aching head. “I-I’m alright, just sore. And my head...”

Yeseul tutted sadly and left the room to ask the servants to fetch some water and a towel.

Yeosang groaned at his own uneasiness. It was just Yeseul, no one to be afraid of— in fact, he’d even missed her fussing and her scolding while they were apart. But he didn’t want to be touched. He didn’t even want to be looked at. He just wanted to sleep and forget this whole thing ever happened.

“Here we are,” Yeseul whispered when she returned, pressing the wet cloth to his bruises. It was cold and it made him flinch, but she was gentle and she seemed to understand his reservations. “Don’t worry about school, you can take as much time away as you need. I don’t think you want all those other children staring at you anyway. Father would agree.”

Yeosang bit his lip and nodded, looking away. He would rather spend his time locked away in the observatory.

“What will he say?” He finally whispered through the lump in his throat.

Yeseul dropped the towel into the bowl and looked at him in concern. “Yeosang dear, I think he’ll simply be relieved you survived.”

Yeosang began shaking his head, vision obscured by growing tears as he considered what a disaster this had been. “B-But I was the man of the house and I failed to protect the estate and I-I almost  _ died _ , don’t you think he’ll be angry?”

Yeseul gripped his hand. “No, he certainly won’t be angry with  _ you _ . That’s far too much responsibility to place on anyone, much less a child.”

Yeosang could see the moment her heart broke for him and he didn’t resist when she pulled him in close, letting his tears soak her gown. “Oh, come here. You’ll be alright.”

Afterwards he was ashamed, but just as he had pretended Si-Hyuk’s arms were his father’s, he pretended Yeseul’s were someone else’s too.

His mother’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aww :( At least he’s safe~~ Starting to see how Yeosang’s future comes together? Leave your theories and comments if you want and have a good day <3


	7. An Arrangement Between Gentlemen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Father and Si-Hyuk liked each other well enough, and neither found fault with him for getting kidnapped by a former pirate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw // brief animal violence in a game hunting context

Spring’s last hurrah was doused in rain. The lake was flooded and school was suspended so Yeosang spent as much time as he could in the wood grove waiting for Father.

Yeseul insisted that he go and return within predefined hours, and when the rain was strong, forbade him from going at all.

After all, he had nearly been killed out there in the woods. Surely he wouldn’t want to return.

Even sitting in the observatory and practicing his calligraphy, his sister sat only a few feet away, half focused on her embroidery and half focused on him.

“I won’t mind it if you leave me alone,” he muttered, punctuating with the stroke of his pen before placing it in the inkwell and levelling a glare at Yeseul.

“Last time you were in here alone, an assassin threw rocks at you,” she retorted without even glancing up.

“He wasn’t an assassin,” Yeosang corrected, rolling his eyes and resuming his work. “He was a bandit and he was trying to kidnap me, that’s what Seongho said.”

“I think a filthy pirate is more than capable of lying to his captive.”

“Seongho wouldn’t,” Yeosang snapped, in his annoyance dabbing the brush on the page in the wrong place and spoiling the entire word. “He was haughty, h-he gloated to me the entire time. What would be the point in lying?”

“I don’t know and I don’t particularly care,” Yeseul answered calmly, tying off the end of her thread and putting the embroidery aside. Her creation still looked perfect and symmetrical.

Yeosang frowned at his own smeared page.

_ The forsythia grows where it is planted _ he had tried to write in attractive script. Turning over the page and trying again, he changed the phrase to suit him better.

_ The forsythia grows where the wind takes it. _

“It’s about time for your nap, Yeosang,” Yeseul hummed as she got to her feet, packing things away.

“I’m not a child,” Yeosang protested. “Do I really have to?”

“The doctor said your head needed rest,” she answered quickly. “And, to be frank, you seem cranky today.”

_ I’ll show you cranky _ , he thought angrily to himself as he packed up his art supplies.

“The calligraphy looks good,” Yeseul commented as she peeked over his shoulder. “And I like the little forsythia shrub you painted. But I don’t think that’s how the proverb goes...”

“Well, I made a new proverb,” he huffed, setting the paper to dry and heading towards his bedroom.

Predictably, Yeseul trailed after. As annoying as she could be, it was in some small way comforting to be cared for personally instead of left alone to fend for himself like he usually was.

It was best when he lay under the covers, his head pillowed in her lap, and she said nothing at all but pet his hair until he relaxed enough to drift to sleep.

“Did Mother tuck you in like this?” He found himself whispering, his eyes on the curtains and the sliver of the outdoors world they revealed. Rain was still pattering quietly and his eyes were growing heavy.

Yeseul’s hand froze and hovered for a moment before she sighed and resumed carding her fingers through his hair. “She did until I asked her not to. I was in a hurry to grow up, and having Mother play with my hair seemed childish.”

Yeosang’s eyes became misty and he shifted so as not to drip tears on her forest green dress. He knew she was trying to  be Mother for him, because he had missed his chance to enjoy those precious moments, and she had no children of her own yet.

“When I was your age, I lost her,” Yeseul said quietly, and the motion slowed to match her reminiscence.

Yeosang let the silence stretch out between them, listening tensely to the hitched breaths his sister exhaled until he felt it was safe enough to ask, “Do you think she would have liked me?”

“Oh, Yeosang,” she cooed, a far cry from the bickering they’d engaged in earlier. “She loved you. Even as she carried you and in the moments she had before she passed... she loved you completely.”

He sighed anyway and buried his face in Yeseul’s skirts. That still told him nothing about what she would think of the person he was now.

He wasn’t even sure who he was now.

“You know, the men at the party were right. You do look a bit like Mother, like there’s something about her that lives on in you. It’s hard to explain,” Yeseul laughed bitterly and folded her hands. “But we certainly won’t be inviting them to your party this week if we can help it.”

At this, Yeosang sat bolt upright. “My party? What? I don’t want another party—”

“Yeosang, it’s your thirteenth birthday,” she scoffed. “It would be ludicrous not to!”

“Well, if it’s  my birthday party than I’d rather have a nice dinner with the servants,” he tried to bargain. “People I already know.”

Yeseul groaned as he clearly missed the point. “Yeosang, this mansion was made to throw large events and remind the town of our status as a family. I will not have you dining with the servants on one of the most important days of your life.”

“Father never holds large events!” Yeosang retorted weakly. He knew he was unlikely to win this one.

“That’s because he’s either at sea or poring over books and charts like a recluse,” Yeseul responded immediately with more than a hint of disapproval. “And it doesn’t excuse you from acting as a boy of your station should. We have a reputation to uphold here, at least help me try and salvage it.”

Deflated, Yeosang collapsed onto the pillows while his sister closed the curtains completely and returned to the bedside to tuck him in.

“Just be polite,” she compromised in a gentler tone of voice. “And I’ll even let you choose some of the guests.”

“And ask the chef to cook my favourite food?” He asked quietly, begging a bit more pitifully than he needed to.

She nodded with a growing smile.

“And let me pick the decorations?”

“Yes, alright!” Yeseul acquiesced, moving to the door. “But that’s it, no more! Off to sleep!”

A lingering smile played on his face while he traced the bedpost designs with his languid eyes. The idea of a splendiferous distraction was growing on him, if only Father could be there.

The months had seemed like years this time, and still no word on the mission with the Dread Pirate.

“Please come home,” he whispered as he succumbed to sleep, and scenes from his childhood intertwined with his dreams.

...

Yeosang was practicing his favourite violin solo when Yeseul entered in a flurry of activity and presented her empty bag.

“All invitations delivered!” She sighed with relief and dropped into a chair. Yeosang suppressed a snicker at the way spending time with him apparently caused her manners to gradually fall by the wayside. “I wish the flooding in town would have let up enough for school to reopen. It took me three hours to find all your school friends and deliver them invitations.”

Yeosang shook his head and repositioned his bow. It wasn’t as if he had that many school friends. He had simply chosen the classmates he trusted not to cause a scene.

“And by the way,” Yeseul chattered on before he could resume playing. “I was at the bookstore delivering your classmate Park Hyunjoon’s invitation to his mother when I spotted Captain Bang loitering around.”

“Captain Bang?” Yeosang was surprised. Si-Hyuk had dropped by several times in the past few weeks to check on Yeosang, but by now he had assumed the privateer would be back at sea, catching pirates for the Navy like he was supposed to.

“Yes, I was surprised too,” Yeseul hummed before shrugging it off. “I gave him an invitation since he did save your life after all, but I told him he’d have to subsist on orange juice for the entirety of the party.”

Yeosang giggled at this. It was true, the menu he had chosen was a little unrefined in comparison to that of the previous ball, but the party would be a lot smaller and consist mostly of other young boys.

“He should be grateful,” Yeosang announced proudly. “Oranges can prevent scurvy.”

Yeseul made a disgusted noise but was halted from speaking further when a servant knocked and entered with a large package.

“Delivery from Panhang, ma’am.”

Excitedly, Yeseul received it and checked to find out what it was.

“Ah, the chestnuts! Only the best for you, Yeosang,” she smiled teasingly. “You know, my husband’s sister’s fiancé lives in Panhang with an up and coming pianist your age. Perhaps you two can start an orchestra!”

Yeosang blushed and finally returned to his music. “I’m not  _ that _ exceptional at it.”

Instead of arguing, his sister clicked her tongue at him and bustled out of the room to deliver the food to the kitchen. There were still many preparations for the party that needed to be finished, one of them being Yeosang’s own.

So he buckled down and got back to practicing, and by the night of his birthday he was buttoning up his frilly dress shirt with shaking hands, prepared but still nervous for the moment he’d be called upon to showcase his talents.

Yeseul emerged as beautiful as ever, this time in a sea blue dress slightly less ornate than the one she’d worn at the previous ball. As Yeosang looked closer, he realised she was receiving some guests he had hoped never to see again.

Two of the men who had been gossiping about his mother.

“You said you wouldn’t invite them,” Yeosang cried as soon as Yeseul made her way over to him, her smile faltering when she noticed how upset he was. “Why did you invite them?”

“They were all gathered at the tavern when I was handing out invitations there, it would have been an insult not to,” she whispered back, regretful. “I’m sorry but neither of us have a choice in the matter.”

“No, I don’t want to do all this again,” he whined in a growing panic. “Please just make them leave or at least... don’t let them talk to me.”

“You don’t have to talk,” she assured him quickly, before spinning around and handing him his violin. “Perform instead.”

Yeosang decided not to protest and tried to be thankful he was getting the stressful part of the occasion out of the way. At Yeseul’s cordial announcement, all guests gathered in the main parlour while Yeosang sat and prepared to play.

He had drilled it fifty times in the past week, it should go off without a hitch.

When everyone was quiet and situated, he began. The eyes on him fell away in his imagination and the song carried him to another world entirely. Yeseul was smiling and encouraging him on as the melody reached a grand crescendo. So far, it had been perfect, the lilting tune capturing the interest of even the old naval officers sitting with crossed arms in the back.

It was like he was on wings, summoning the air to flutter the curtains, obstructing the audience from view so it was just him and the music.

As the final note grew closer, the breeze died and the curtain fell back, revealing a figure in the doorway that Yeosang hadn’t noticed before.

It was Father, smiling knowingly and holding out his arms for a hug as Yeosang dropped the violin without a care and launched himself at him in full view of the crowd, abandoning the song he had been playing.

He refused to shed tears at his thirteenth birthday party, but finally embracing his father after such a difficult separation came close to making him break that vow.

“You couldn’t have come at a better time,” he sighed happily as he pulled away, ignoring the hushed whispers from the confused crowd.

“Your sister’s invitation letter found me in Kon a few nights back,” Father explained, petting his hair gently with a note of concern in his eyes. “I heard about the kidnapping and couldn’t stay away any longer.”

Yeosang held his breath, sure he would be scolded, but instead the sound of all the other officers standing and bowing to his father distracted them.

“Thank you all for coming,” the Navigator responded graciously, giving Yeosang a final pat and stepping out of the shadows completely. “I’m terribly sorry to have interrupted.”

“The song was almost over anyway,” Yeosang reassured him quickly, and Yeseul took the lead, motioning for the servants to open the doors to the ballroom again, where food and a proper band waited for a time of refreshment and dancing.

“What happened on your trip, Father?” Yeosang clung to him, buzzing with questions. “Did you smoke out the crew of the Stardust? Did the Admiral come here with you?”

Father’s smile dropped a bit before he forced another one onto his face. “I’ll have to tell you later, son. If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to speak with the man who rescued you.”

Yeosang hesitantly let go of his hand. Father was back now, he’d have him all to himself until the next voyage. There was no reason to stop him from conversing with the privateer.

So off he went while Yeosang stuffed his face with handpicked treats and watched the adults dance to a traditional song. Hyunjoon came to sit next to him and make idle conversation.

“Was the chicken broth your idea?” He asked while happily slurping every last drop from his soup bowl. Yeosang nodded and popped another roasted chestnut into his mouth. Chestnuts weren’t even in season, so he was all the more impressed with Yeseul for pulling her strings.

“What do you suppose they’re talking about over there?” He asked absentmindedly with his eye on his father’s apparently lively conversation.

“I don’t know,” Hyunjoon answered quickly before pilfering some of Yeosang’s chestnuts. “These are quite good. You know, if you bring them to school some time, maybe we can sit next to each other.”

Impatient and hardly paying attention to the boy, Yeosang handed him the rest of his food and went to overhear what Si-Hyuk and Father were discussing.

“Ah, hello Yeosang,” the privateer greeted him before he could hear anything and nervously the boy chewed his lip until Father’s hand came to rest on his shoulder.

“Captain Bang and I were discussing some potential plans for tomorrow,” his father said, allowing a pause for anticipation before revealing it. “We’d like to bring you hunting with us!”

Ah, hunting.

Game hunting was one of those noble gentleman pastimes Father was occasionally involved in, along with horseback riding, card games, fencing, playing instruments, and practicing calligraphy. Yeosang remembered when reciting poetry was on the list, but it wasn’t as popular now as earlier in his youth.

Shyly he nodded his agreement, and for the rest of the evening he relaxed as it seemed Father and Si-Hyuk liked each other well enough, and neither found fault with him for getting kidnapped by a former pirate.

“Whatever happened to the Dread Pirate Eden?” Yeosang asked when his patience was spent, holding a lantern in his hands while Father sat on the edge of his bed to tuck him in, long after the party guests had departed.

“Ultimately, he led us into a trap,” Father admitted slowly, shifting with discomfort as he attempted to explain. “It was an ambush, they were ready for us. The pirate escaped to his ship in the crossfire.”

Yeosang leaned forward and reached out a concerned hand. “Are you alright? Did everyone survive?”

“It was bad, but it was over soon,” Father muttered softly. “We lost men, but not even half the numbers we lost in Geobugi.”

Yeosang sat back and put on his best confused face. His father broke the gloom for a moment to chuckle at him and hold out an open palm.

“Drop the act, boy, I know you’ve read the journal. Why else would I have led you to it? I’ll be taking it back now, however. There will be new entries to add.”

Yeosang blushed hard and rummaged in his desk, handing the book over and settling in to sleep. “What about the Admiral? Will he ask you to voyage again?”

“I don’t know,” Father admitted as he placed the lantern on the bedside table. “Kim called a meeting at the Admiralty, but his plan to hunt down the Stardust will likely be slowed by the upcoming lieutenant examinations.”

“You don’t mind that, do you?” Yeosang noted with a knowing smile.

“No, I don’t mind,” Father chuckled, blowing out the light and leaving the room with a gentle, “Goodnight.”

For one peaceful sleep, all was right with the world.

Fog clung to the trees the following morning. Just before dawn, Yeosang found Yeseul’s maid packing her dresses away and hurried to the entryway to say goodbye before she left.

“Well, why are you up so early?” Yeseul huffed good-naturedly, simultaneously overseeing the transfer of all her boxes and bags to the waiting carriage.

“Father and I are going hunting!” Yeosang answered, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“Hunting?” Yeseul replied, truly shocked this time. “ _ You _ , hunting?”

He nodded with a frown and she tilted her head and gave him a once over. “Well you certainly aren’t the little boy who burst in carrying a bird’s nest one day, begging us to save it because the tree was being chopped down anymore, are you?”

Yeosang remembered the incident and supposed her observation was true, but he tried not to think of it that way. An activity with Father was an activity with Father, even if Yeosang didn’t like the loud noise the guns made or the fact that animals were killed.

Silence stretched between them until the carriage driver cleared his throat to signal things were ready for departure.

Yeosang opened his mouth to speak but found there was nothing to say. The road was long and it was time for Yeseul to embark on it.

“You’re going home?” He asked, trying not to let his disappoint show. He wasn’t  _ really _ sad, after all, Father was home now and that was enough. He wouldn’t miss Yeseul’s nagging, even if he missed her running her hands through his hair.

“My work here is done,” she answered simply with a nod in the direction of the mansion.

“Well, goodbye,” he told her awkwardly, and her playful expression eased into a sentimental one.

“Goodbye, dear. Mind your manners, will you?”

Yeosang shied away as she attempted to ruffle his hair and watched her get into the carriage daintily as always.

“Try to have a baby before the next time I see you!” He yelled after her when she was only just within earshot. “I’d like a niece or nephew!”

He giggled at the echo of her indignant cry and returned to the house, waiting in the stables for Father to appear so they could head into the woods.

He and Yuma ambled along at the back of the group, following the trail Father and Captain Bang’s horses laid out in front of them until they reached a familiar grove.

Yeosang frowned. This was the place he would come to play when he didn’t feel like doing schoolwork, the place where he didn’t have to worry about anyone’s expectations. It was the abode of all his animal friends and his secret sanctuary. No one was supposed to know about it, not even Father.

“You picked an excellent spot, Si-Hyuk,” Father praised as the dog-handlers released their hounds into the woods to round up some game.

Even though he was excited for Father to teach him proper firearm handling technique, the sudden noises did jolt him into a nervous state, especially considering the surroundings they were in.

It sounded a lot like it had that day he had been rescued from Seongho.

Birds and beasts alike came running to them from the tree line, and Father and Si-Hyuk mowed them down with considerable skill.

Yeosang’s stomach turned as the hunt went on. Surely they had enough meat to survive on now, there was no need to show off...

When at last the firing stopped, Yeosang was already sitting in the grass a few paces away. He had tired of the sport quickly and preferred to work on setting up camp, laying back when he was finished to watch clouds move across the sky and hope he wouldn’t have to see another bird be shot down.

“Captain Bang and I have been talking,” Father began when they settled down for a meal, a newly caught rabbit being cooked over the fire. It looked a bit like one Yeosang used to play with.

“Yes, and we may have reached an arrangement,” the privateer finished for Father, both looking expectantly at Yeosang, whose eyes were instead on the lifeless rabbit.

“Pardon me,” he coughed uncomfortably before looking between them. “Yes? An arrangement for...?”

“An arrangement for you, Yeosang,” Father laughed in amazement. “We’ve begun to discuss the possibility of your employment with Captain Bang.”

Yeosang’s eyes immediately shot over to Si-Hyuk, widened to the size of dinner plates.

Bang Si-Hyuk wanted him? Even after he’d needed to rescue him in that most embarrassing incident?

“Well... I...”

Yeosang stumbled over his words, and Bang took it to be a sign of his misgivings and rushed to defend himself.

“I understand if there’s any moral conflict over my past,” he told them both honestly. “I  was once a pirate, until I pledged allegiance to the Navy, but in a time such as now— when piracy is the foremost threat our country faces— expertise like mine is invaluable. And my navigator will soon retire, so I’ll need someone to venture into the east with me on the pirate hunt.”

Yeosang closed his mouth and nodded, glancing at Father for his opinion.

“I think Yeosang and I can both agree that he isn’t ready,” the navigator supplied. “But he studies incessantly and will soon reach the level of knowledge necessary to begin plotting courses for you, Bang. When that time comes, I think I can promise for him that he will consider your offer before any others.”

Yeosang nodded again quickly, standing and giving the privateer a thankful bow for the opportunity. The entire situation felt sudden and unfamiliar, but to be promised consideration for the very position he had always wished for merely a day after his father’s return was extremely advantageous. He felt he owed it to the privateer to repay him somehow, and this was a promising arrangement for both parties.

Bang promised to return in a few years, as soon as Navigator Kang sent word, and while they turned their own horses towards home, Yeosang allowed himself to exhale fully for the first time in the past few days.

“I must say, I’m not fond of your strategy,” Father sighed as the mansion came into view. “It would have been easier to simply connect with Captain Bang at the ball your sister held, but I suppose being kidnapped and having him rescue you moved the process along significantly.”

Yeosang couldn’t help but giggle, and his father’s stern expression softened at the sound. He knew he was only teasing.

“So you aren’t upset?” Yeosang finally asked, just to clarify.

“No,” Father answered resolutely. “Those bandits had their actions punished and good came of the incident ultimately. I’m not upset with you at all.”

Those words were a massive weight removed, and as he returned Yuma to his stall, Yeosang decided it was time to buckle down and prepare for his future.

He certainly had studying to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was not supposed to be nearly 4K but I was on a roll so you get what you get I guess. We’re over halfway through the book now, so a major shift will be taking place in the next chapter and a lot of the symbolism in this one will start to make sense! Catch anything? Let me know and comment if you liked it~ ttfn <3

**Author's Note:**

> This is the Treasure spinoff for ATEEZ's navigator Yeosang! Thanks so much for reading, and don't hesitate to leave a comment or reach out to me on my twitter/cc @tiny_tokki!


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